The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded a $930,000 Project Grant under the Agricultural Genome to Phenome Initiative (CFDA 10.332) to the Regents of the University of California at Riverside (UC Riverside). The grant aims to mitigate the risk of impaired pollination services due to climate change by: 1) identifying commercially viable honey bee stocks resilient to heat, 2) determining the physiological mechanisms governing heat resilience, and 3) employing genetic markers to enrich heat resilience in honey bee populations through selective breeding. UC Riverside will lead this research, collaborating with North Carolina State University, which received a $624,000 sub-award to study heat resilience in pollinator stocks. The project will produce a benchmark dataset on U.S. commercial bee stocks' heat tolerance, develop an understanding of how heat affects honey bee survival and reproduction, and create genetic markers to improve stock performance under changing environmental conditions.
Generated 1/28/25, 11:06 AM